Chapter 3694: Hit and Run (Part 1) The Awakened man and the woman were both bright violet cores and wore excellent equipment, but none of that was enough against the Golems. Unlike Lith’s Demons, they were always at full power, waiting in the pocket dimension to be summoned. On top of that, whenever the Spark was active, Trouble and Raptor were upgraded by the tower. Raptor’s body belonged to an Awakened Vagrash and had long since been refined from the bright blue to the bright violet level. As for Trouble, the tower’s Spark chamber had granted him in death the body refining that his fallen state had denied him in life. Balors were already powerful creatures in their non-Awakened state, and Trouble had reached the equivalent of the deep blue. Also, the two corpses were coated in Adamant that had also filled the damage left by Lith’s killing blows. The Spark had strengthened the Adamant as well, turning it into a Davross-Adamant alloy. The Davross’ mass had recently surpassed the Adamant and now comprised over half of the metal bodies, making short work of the mages’ armors. Last, but not least, Lith had turned Raptor’s jagged tail into a proper sword and enchanted it with a power core of its own. The two Golems took the human Awakened by surprise and managed to wound them deeply before their comrades came to the rescue. "I don’t know what you are, but I can discover it after I kill Verhen and imprint you!" A Dryad yelled at the constructs. Four Awakened abandoned the chase and went to the humans’ rescue, unleashing one powerful tier five Spirit Spell each. They had prepared those spells to deal with Lith, but they couldn’t afford to lose the only array specialists in the group. The Awakened needed sheer focus to control the Spirit Spells with surgical precision and avoid killing their allies. Their effort and worry became useless when the Golems smirked and disappeared in a burst of emerald flames. ’Where did they go?’ The Awakened man scoured his surroundings for the exit point of what he believed to be a Spirit Blink. ’Recall your spells to your side and keep them ready to use.’ The Awakened woman needed her breathing technique to heal the deep gash in her chest. ’This must be a trap.’ She was right, but the trap was not for them. Lith was still pushing his wings to their limits, but his enemies caught up quickly by forcing him to dodge multiple barrages of spells. The aerial maneuvers saved Lith’s life but slowed him down compared to his pursuers, who flew in a straight line. "Got you!" The Titania yelled in triumph as her vines whipped at Lith’s legs. ’Back at you!’ Lith opened the pocket dimension again, and Trouble hit the Titania with a dropkick and a Final Eclipse from point-blank. At the same time, Raptor in its Vagrash form pounced on the second closest Awakened, the male Emperor Beast, and bit his throat as they both plummeted to the ground like a meteor of flesh and metal. The Titania and the Emperor Beast both roared their challenge, releasing powerful tier five Spirit Spells that destroyed everything around them for dozens of meters. Too bad only their allies suffered the conflagrations. ’Be careful, you idiots!’ Sogron, a human blademaster said. ’Have you forgotten Verhen has an omni pocket? He’s using it to recall his Golems after every attack in the most obnoxious hit-and-run tactic I’ve ever seen.’ ’I’ve slowed them down, but for how long?’ Lith found no solace in his success. ’Those bastards are all still alive.’ ’Are you sure you don’t want me to call Solus?’ Ripha had emerged from her Void Sigil and held Lith’s communication amulet. ’And do what?’ Lith replied. ’I have no idea where I am and can’t stop long enough to let the amulet pinpoint my position. Even if I did, how can she reach us if she has never been here before?’ ’Then what do you need me for?’ Ripha had only one eye so as not to burden Lith’s mana. ’Because if I recognize where I’m going, you can call Solus, and she can bring reinforcements. Yet I need to find a landmark firs-’ Three Warp Steps opened in front of Lith, cutting him short. He accelerated further, charging at the one in the middle and calling for Trouble and Raptor only at the last second. Most of the surprise effect was gone, but not all of it. The Awakened couldn’t prepare a defense until the Golems appeared, and when they did, the Awakened had to identify the threat before they could neutralize it. Fighting Raptor in its humanoid or Vagrash form required different strategies. One was a heavy feline Emperor Beast, and the other was a swordsman. Fighting Trouble was even more tricky since the Balor had yet to use a single ability. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺 Azaar the Drake discovered it the hard way when Trouble kept his distance and unleashed six elemental beams. One from each of his crystal eyes. ’Oh, shit! Verhen is a Light Master!’ The air, earth, and fire pillars crashed against Azaar’s Spirit Barrier, cracking it. The light pillar was a heat ray that scorched the Drake’s skin and superheated his armor, leaving him vulnerable to the darkness pillar in its wake that ravaged Azaar’s body and mana core. The water pillar was the finishing touch, turning the scorching heat produced by the light and fire elements into a freezing cold. Azaar’s armor cracked from the thermal shock, and the Lesser Dragons’ natural weakness to cold worsened the effects of the water pillar. The Drake turned into a block of ice that Trouble shattered to pieces with a jab, reducing the number of enemies by one. ’Azaar!’ Zakra the Titania yelled in grief and outrage, lashing with her ten weapons at Raptor’s Snakebite blade. The Golem was a swordsman as good as Lith thanks to the essence they shared, but Raptor only had one blade while the Titania had many and the strength of a Griffon. The Golem held Zakra back as long as it could, retreating inside the pocket dimension before the many injuries sustained could compromise its functionality. ’One down. Only thirteen of them to go.’ Lith rejoiced at Trouble’s victory. ’It’s not much, but now they can’t cast more than one Silverwing’s Spell at a time. If I keep them scattered, they can cast none at all.’ Instead of trying to fly around the open Steps and risk being shot in the back, Lith charged straight at it. Worst case scenario, he rammed into the emerging Awakened and threw them off balance, creating an opening for a deadly blow. Best case scenario, they both crossed through the still-open Steps. Lith would gain a lot of distance from his pursuers, and the Awakened would keep rushing in the wrong direction until they realized what had happened. It was a win-win situation. Too bad neither scenario played out. The third Awakened knew he would emerge from the Steps blind, so he too had raised a powerful Spirit Barrier. It deflected Ragnarök’s lunge, blocked Lith’s Final Eclipse, and shattered only when his spiked tail struck it. Lith flapped his feathered wings to keep his momentum while pummeling at the enemy with his membranous wings closed into fists. His left arm held and shielded Valeron, lying useless to his side.